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A day in the life at Do312 begins with knocking on the East Room window to get in; the company’s office is in the space below. Do312 is a media company that promotes music and night life in Chicago run by Scott Cramer, General Manager, Ami York, Accounts, Katie Karpowicz and Dan Opera, Content and Editorial, and Lorena Cupcake, Social Media and Marketing. These people have interns, my position is a Social Media Marketing Intern. As you walk into the office you are greeted by Lorena and her Chihuahua named Fixie. Monday’s are hectic because there are a lot of people in the office and there are a lot of meetings. Once I find my spot to settle in for the day I set up my laptop and look at my tasks due for Asana. Asana is a program that helps us all organize our tasks, allows us to review content edits and acts as our calendar.

My tasks involve creating event pages and writing tweets and Facebook posts about upcoming concerts or giveaways. I also select images from our Flickr albums to use in content and on our Instagram page. I research logistics for parties we throw; one afternoon I was getting quotes on money blowing machines. Every day looks different here but every day we are listening to good music and drinking La Croix. This internship has taught me how important social media is to a company’s growth. When we look back at engagement we see what our user base responds to (cute pictures of animals, Lollapalooza giveaways and the Pitchfork lineup). I am learning that media is one of the most important aspects of marketing. This internship has taught me a lot about Chicago as well. I am constantly having to research some of the best places to eat, drink and have fun and because of this I have discovered a lot more about the city. My favorite part of interning is working the events, I tie-dyed t-shirts, took tickets at a concert, and worked their “birthday party”. This internship has increased my connections with people and has given me a better idea about what goes into marketing.

During my senior year at DePaul, I have had the pleasure of working at RPA Advertising. RPA, a full-service advertising agency, is headquartered in sunny Santa Monica, CA with seven regional offices throughout the US. RPA has 725 full-time employees across all offices and our Chicago office has about 10 of those team members. My position is as an Assistant Local Media Negotiator. If you’re like me when I first saw the job title, you’re probably wondering, what in the world does that mean?

Trust me, it’s not as complicated as it sounds. My role falls under the Local Media department, whose basic function is to negotiate TV and Radio airtime for our clients’ commercials. Some of RPA’s clients include Honda, Acura, La-Z-Boy, Dole Fruit, and apartments.com.

In my position, I assist the Local Media Negotiators with the execution and maintenance of media schedules. After a schedule is negotiated and ordered with a station, the best-case scenario is that everything runs exactly as it was ordered. However, there are reasons the TV or radio station sometimes cannot air the spot. A few examples of why this would happen are scheduling changes, breaking news, a rain-out or overtime during a sporting event, a new special being added to the schedule, a program getting cancelled, or even the station overselling the time slot. The station will come back with their best “makegood”. A “makegood” is an offer where the station will make the spot purchased (that is unable to air as ordered) good in another program and/or time-slot with equal or better ratings. One responsibility of my job is to negotiate and reject or approve makegoods. For example, the Local Media Negotiator purchases a 30-second spot in the Big Bang Theory to air in May. As May approaches, the TV station changes their schedule and sees that The Big Bang Theory may not be airing that week. The station would send a makegood for Modern Family. In this situation, I would pull Nielsen demographic ratings and consider the client’s marketing objectives to make sure that Modern Family targets the same or a better audience than The Big Bang Theory. If it does, the makegood will be accepted. If it does not, the station will send me a new makegood for evaluation.

Another aspect of my role is processing the media billing. After the schedules run, RPA needs to pay the TV and radio stations. One of my responsibilities is to make sure everything ran correctly and within client guidelines before payments are processed. Sometimes the stations will remove spots or makegood spots without approval. In those cases, I communicate with the stations to find out what happened and if it can still be approved for payment. These are some of my major tasks; however, I have other tasks as assigned as well.

Before starting at RPA, I didn’t know a lot about how the advertising world operates aside from what I learned watching Mad Men. My role has allowed me to learn a lot about how the industry works and get hands on experience doing work that keeps the agency successfully operating, rather than busy work or intern projects that never see the light of day. The culture is laid-back and everyone is very approachable with any questions. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time at RPA and I’m proud of the work that the agency makes for our clients. It’s pretty cool knowing that your agency was responsible every time you see a Honda ad!

I encourage other Marketing majors to branch out from current notions of marketing roles and to try something new – I’m definitely glad I did!

I work for a company called GYMGUYZ. We are the leader’s in-Home Personal Training, and are committed to enhancing and changing the overall health and fitness of individuals worldwide. GYMGUYZ was founded in 2008 by Josh York, and the company had an immediate kick-off. To date, there are over 100 GYMGUYZ franchises in over 15 states, and we are currently working on opening a franchise in the U.K.

While in the office, I search for different marketing events that we can display a booth at. I have to make sure that the events are affordable, realistic for us, and will be heavily populated. Negotiating booth pricing is also an important task, since our marketing budget is extremely low. Once my marketing events are booked, I go and attend these events with the goal of obtaining contact information from interested leads. After the marketing events, I call all of the leads and try to book them for our free assessment. Along with marketing events, I attend various amounts of Networking Events to try and build relationships with businesses. Once there is a relationship, I book a meeting to try and sell our Corporate Wellness Programs to their company.

I have learned a lot working here. I have learned how to create email campaigns, and how to tell which are successful or not. I have learned and became extremely comfortable with networking, and using networking to expand our business. My telemarketing skills have also improved with the high number of phone calls I conduct each week. Most of all, I have learned that “Success isn’t given, It’s Earned”. Working here and starting up a brand new company has taught me how difficult it is just to break even every month. I have taken into consideration how strategic you must be to earn business, and most importantly, retain business. I am very thankful for the opportunity to be able to lead a marketing team, and to learn the process of starting up a brand new company.

Hello! My name is Martha Arrizabalo and I am currently a Full Time MBA Candidate. This summer quarter, I am interning for Iyka Enterprises, Inc., which is an IT service provider that delivers innovative technology to their clients, such as application developments, software solutions and database services. Iyka Enterprises was founded in 2000 by Ms. Poonam Gupta, who is currently our CEO and President.

I’m working at Iyka Enterprises as Marketing Intern, and I must say that even though I’m an intern, this company has given me the freedom to plan and execute marketing campaigns, and to recommend actions in order to align marketing and sales efforts. One of the things that I enjoy the most of working at Iyka Enterprises is that I work with a multidisciplinary team.

A day at Iyka Enterprises would be difficult to define. During the last month, I worked close to IBM, Cisco and Motorola in order to accomplish a partnership between them and Iyka Enterprises. This process involved studying which solutions are the best fit for Iyka Enterprises, following the application process for each of these companies, and taking and passing the training required.

I’m very happy to say that these partnerships are finally signed and now Iyka has a more robust portfolio of offerings to promote among their clients. One of my goals now is to plan marketing campaigns that reach new clients, promoting our new portfolio. In addition, one of the benefits of partnering with big corporations is that we have marketing resources available to use. Therefore, I have to be aware of these benefits and work with the partners in order to take advantage of the marketing resources, such as online marketing campaigns, unsolicited proposal campaigns, events, etc.

At one of our meetings, where there are leaders from all departments: sales, technical, business solutions, advisory, etc.

Currently, I spend much of time defining the marketing campaigns that we will execute in the short run, and working with the sales team in order to verify the process flow between marketing and sales. I also keep working with partners and our sales and technical team in order to identify those certifications that Iyka Enterprises needs, to be able to promote the offerings required in the market.

I’m extremely happy working at Iyka Enterprises! This is a company that hears their employees and recognizes good ideas. My education and previous experience have given me a competitive advantage, and I’m glad to bring my knowledge into Iyka Enterprises. I also must say that while my internship, I have learned valuable insights about the real business world: I have been involved in meetings with clients, where I have observed the negotiation process. I also have been in sales meetings, where I have learned the difficulties that market is having and how approach them. All these insights have nurtured me professionally, and I’m very thankful to Iyka for giving me the opportunity to obtain valuable business insights that help me to grow professionally.

At the end, when my boss call me and ask me to be in a meeting because she wants to know my opinion about something they are working, is the most rewarding part of my day.

This internship is very different than most positions I have held in the past. Since it is a Marketing internship for a non-profit organization, specifically a religious organization, it has given me a great opportunity to discover how to use my ideas and techniques in a new way to target diverse and broad markets. There are approximately 35 employees and 150 active volunteers at City Church Chicago.

My title at City Church Chicago is Marketing/Creative Intern. One of my main duties is to be in charge of planning and executing all marketing and promotional events within the church and throughout the city. This includes hosting themed fundraisers, sports outings, mixers, and concerts. These events raise money or awareness for the church and its philanthropic/community service endeavors. One of the main initiatives for City Church Chicago this fall is Urban Hope, a community center that City Church Chicago opened in a neighborhood of the west side to provide children with a safe and positive environment after school. There are 3-5 events per month and all of them benefit or raise awareness for the Urban Hope project.

The other side of my internship is working with the Creative Team at City Church Chicago. This team designs all the social media, video recaps, building decorations, and helps promote the culture at City Church Chicago. My day-to-day activities include assisting the Creative Director and Communication Director with completing any seasonal projects. I assist with social media posts on Twitter and Instagram and respond to any inquiries for information on those sites. Each week I edit and post podcasts of the weekly services on the website so that those who are interested can see what the church is like and those who are currently members can catch up on the current series if they have missed any services.

This internship has been extremely eye opening for me because I have never had the opportunity to see behind-the-scenes of any non-profit organization before. Since I am assisting for marketing for a church, the ideal market is anyone and everyone in Chicago because anyone is welcome to come to the church services and events. I am learning more about broadening content and creating several different versions of each post or ad that can appeal to different demographics. I am excited to continue to learn more about how the marketing team functions in this organization.

A wall in the church that I helped the Creative Team design for a series.

The Marketing Team cleaning up after a promotional event.

Another Intern and I in NYC for a leadership conference.

A concert I helped plan to benefit Urban Hope.

My supervisor and I after an event.

Another intern and I with a cardboard logo that we created for an event.

Intern Alex Rodriguez and her boss, Lisa, marketing at Lincoln Ave Live Festival

Monday: I walk in the door of Farmers Insurance at 10 am energized and excited for the day. Bella greets me first jumping around, barking, and excited that I have finally arrived. Lisa greets me and asks me to help her gather paper work and pamphlets ready we are going on a “field trip”, there is a 10:30 appointment with a condo association. Being the Agents assistant to sales and telemarketer she thinks it would be a good idea to see a sales pitch in action. On our way to meet the condo association we chat about were the insurance business will be in ten years and why she choose farmers over other insurance agencies. Once we arrive Lisa introduces us and begins, her infinite knowledge of the different types of coverage and what would be beneficial to the association astonishes both the members and I, they are sold. We then proceed to take measurements of the building as well as some pictures.

Once back in the office I begin my normal routine, filling X-date

Alex Rodriguez (Right) outside the Farmers Insurance office where she works as a Marketing Intern

s for prospective clients ( when their previous insurance is done so that we may give them a call and offer a comparison), finishing quotes for clients Lisa has talked to, and calling a list of prospective clients in order to offer them a comparison. After I have finished that Lisa and I go on our weekly run. Today we have chosen to introduce ourselves to Physical Therapist. I have prepared a list of physical therapist in our area and we head out. At our first office we introduce ourselves, tell the Therapist that we are local and offer them a special discount for what they do best being Therapist, we leave some goodie bags and we are on to the next office.

Although our office is not very big Lisa, Beth, and I reach a wide variety of clients from all over the city and even as far as Hinsdale. I have learned a lot about how to approach people who do not want to be talked to and also have met a lot of interesting people with in the short period of time working for farmers.

If you would like to learn about the internship opportunities with Farmers Insurance, contact Kate Stevenson, Ksteven6@depaul.edu